Callum Devine has had his advantage from the first stage cut as he leads after the first day of the Donegal International Rally.
The first six stages comprised of stage 1(Dooish Hill) Manorcunningham, stage 2 (An Grianan) Newtowncunningham, and stage 3 (Mouldy Hill) Bridgend/Buncrana, with a break in between for service before doing the same three stages again.
But it’s the Derry man Devine, in his VW Polo GTI R5, who was seven and a half seconds up on his nearest competitor in Matt Edwards after stage one, but he has had his lead shortened following the end of the sixth and final stage of the day.
Devine and co-driver Noel O’Sullivan are now just 5.8 seconds up on Welshman Edwards after the man in second place went 3 seconds quicker on the final stage of the day.
Ali Fisher is in third place in the standings 35 seconds behind Edwards, while Meirion Evans is fifth, in between brothers Josh (4th) and Sam (6th) Moffett, with a ten second gap either side.
Sam Moffett was the 2019 winner is a full minute behind Devine and has hinted at a poor tyre decision. Sam said: “We went full wets and the minute we went out on the first stage we knew it would be a big mistake.
“It’s an absolute disaster but it’s still a long weekend and we’ll fight back.”
Declan Boyle is the leading Donegal man and he sits in 7th position, while Kevin Gallagher leads the class 14 modified field, ahead of Wexford’s James Stafford and fellow Donegal man Damien Tourish by 1.7 seconds and 5.3 seconds respectively.
Results for the Main Field category
O/A Car Driver/Codriver Make Class Pos SS6 Road Total Diff 1st Diff Prev
1 (=) 2 Callum Devine/Noel O’Sullivan VW Polo GTI R5 RC2 O/A 7:27.6 0:00 42:13.1
2 (=) 5 Matt Edwards/David Moynihan Citroen C3 Rally 2 RC2 O/A 7:24.7 0:00 42:18.9 0:05.8 0:05.8
3 (=) 4 Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble VW Polo RC2 O/A 7:30.6 0:00 42:48.0 0:34.9 0:29.1
4 (=) 3 Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes Hyundai I20 R5 RC2 1 7:29.7 0:00 42:52.0 0:38.9 0:04.0
5 (=) 7 Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson VW Polo GTI R5 RC2 2 7:32.1 0:00 43:02.9 0:49.8 0:10.9
6 (=) 1 Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty Ford Fiesta 25 1 7:35.8 0:00 43:13.2 1:00.1 0:10.3
7 (=) 8 Declan Boyle/James O’Reilly Ford Fiesta 25 2 7:38.8 0:00 43:17.5 1:04.4 0:04.3
8 (=) 11 Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson Ford Fiesta RC2 3 7:38.5 0:00 43:35.0 1:21.9 0:17.5
9 (+2) 9 Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy Ford Fiesta 24 1 7:43.1 0:00 43:56.3 1:43.2 0:21.3
10 (-1) 25 Kevin Gallagher/Ryan Moore Darrian T90 GTR 14 1 7:47.3 0:00 43:58.0 1:44.9 0:01.7
11 (+1) 22 James Stafford/Thomas Scallan Darrian T90 GTR 14 2 7:46.1 0:00 43:59.7 1:46.6 0:01.7
12 (-2) 21 Damien Tourish/Domhnall McAlaney Ford Escort 14 3 7:50.2 0:00 44:03.3 1:50.2 0:03.6
13 (=) 17 David Kelly/Dean O’Sullivan Ford Fiesta RC2 4 7:44.3 0:00 44:03.9 1:50.8 0:00.6
14 (=) 34 Enda O’Brien/John Butler VW Polo GTI R5 RC2 5 7:48.1 0:00 44:18.8 2:05.7 0:14.9
15 (+3) 16 Joseph McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney Ford Fiesta R5 MK2 RC2 6 7:47.6 0:00 44:28.6 2:15.5 0:09.8
16 (+1) 23 Declan Gallagher/Derek Heena Toyota Starlet RWD 14 4 7:47.9 0:00 44:28.9 2:15.8 0:00.3
17 (-2) 18 Ryan Loughran/Gareth Doherty Ford Escort 14 5 7:55.3 0:00 44:30.6 2:17.5 0:01.7
18 (+1) 26 Gary Kiernan/Daren O’Brien Ford Escort 14 6 7:51.2 0:00 44:33.5 2:20.4 0:02.9
19 (-3) 12 Seamus Leonard/John McCaffrey Ford Fiesta RC2 7 7:54.5 0:00 44:33.8 2:20.7 0:00.3
20 (=) 20 Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan Ford Escort Mk2 14 7 7:53.4 0:00 44:39.5 2:26.4 0:05.7
21 (=) 14 Gareth Machale/Brian Murphy VW Polo GTI R5 24 2 7:52.8 0:00 44:59.6 2:46.5 0:20.1
22 (=) 29 Mark Alcorn/James McNulty Ford Escort Mk2 14 8 7:56.8 0:00 45:15.0 3:01.9 0:15.4
23 (=) 28 Frank Kelly/Lauren Kelly Ford Escort Mk2 14 9 8:06.9 0:00 45:35.3 3:22.2 0:20.3
24 (+5) 55 Richard Moffett/Darragh Kelly Toyota Starlet RWD 14 10 7:56.3 0:00 45:39.5 3:26.4 0:04.2
25 (+2) 31 Chris Armstrong/Martin Byrne Ford Escort 14 11 8:00.9 0:00 45:42.7 3:29.6 0:03.2
26 (-1) 32 Gary McPhilips/Liam Brennan Ford Escort 14 12 8:08.3 0:00 45:45.9 3:32.8 0:03.2
27 (+5) 41 Michael Carbin/Paul McGee Mitsubishi Evo 9 20 1 7:56.5 0:00 45:46.2 3:33.1 0:00.3
28 (+3) 36 Aaron McLaughlin/Darren Curran Ford Fiesta WRC 25 3 7:59.0 0:00 45:48.0 3:34.9 0:01.8
29 (-3) 60 PJ McDermot/Kieran McGrath Ford Fiesta WRC 25 4 8:07.4 0:00 45:49.1 3:36.0 0:01.1
30 (-2) 33 Jonathan Pringle/Paul Sheridan Ford Escort Mk2 14 13 8:08.1 0:00 45:50.3 3:37.2 0:01.2
31 (+4) 66 Gareth Sayers/Gareth Gilchrist Ford Fiesta RC2 8 8:00.1 0:00 46:00.5 3:47.4 0:10.2
32 (-8) 24 David Bogie/John Rowan Ford Escort 14 14 8:33.1 0:00 46:05.2 3:52.1 0:04.7
33 (=) 37 Niall Maguire/Conor Foley Ford Fiesta R5 24 3 8:07.9 0:00 46:07.8 3:54.7 0:02.6
34 (+2) 53 Patrick McHugh/Pauric O’Donnell Ford Escort Mk2 14 15 8:08.0 0:00 46:17.4 4:04.3 0:09.6
35 (+3) 65 Joe Hegarty/David Tutkington Ford Fiesta RC2 9 8:08.8 0:00 46:20.4 4:07.3 0:03.0
36 (+6) 42 Stuart Darcy/Liam McIntyre Proton MEM S2500 Millington 20 2 7:59.9 0:00 46:20.7 4:07.6 0:00.3
37 (+8) 30 Damian Toner/Denver Rafferty Ford Escort 14 16 8:04.1 0:00 46:34.4 4:21.3 0:13.7
38 (+3) 58 Kyle McGettigan/Dale McGettigan Ford Escort Mk2 14 17 8:19.8 0:00 46:38.5 4:25.4 0:04.1
39 (+7) 51 Conor Murphy/Sean Collins Ford Escort 14 18 8:11.3 0:00 46:44.4 4:31.3 0:05.9
40 (+7) 56 Johnny Jordan/Gary McNern Toyota Starlet 13 1 8:17.1 0:00 46:50.7 4:37.6 0:06.3
41 (+12) 45 Simon Reid/John Murphy Ford Escort Mk2 14 19 8:12.5 0:00 47:03.5 4:50.4 0:12.8
42 (+13) 50 Martin McGee/Johnny McGee Ford Escort 14 20 8:13.8 0:00 47:08.6 4:55.5 0:05.1
43 (+13) 40 Stuart Biggerstaff/Anthony Nestor Ford Fiesta R5 RC2 10 8:12.1 0:00 47:09.1 4:56.0 0:00.5
44 (+13) 49 Chris O’Callaghan/Kaine Treanor Ford Escort Mk2 14 21 8:12.8 0:00 47:13.1 5:00.0 0:04.0
45 (+9) 43 Brian Brogan/Damian McGettigan Ford Escort 14 22 8:24.3 0:00 47:16.2 5:03.1 0:03.1
46 (+15) 163 Paddy McDaid/Timmy Lunn Ford Escort 14 23 8:27.5 0:00 47:33.9 5:20.8 0:17.7
47 (+22) 47 Conor Curley/Nigel Frazer Ford Escort Mk2 14 24 8:06.0 0:00 47:34.5 5:21.4 0:00.6
48 (+22) 48 John Bonner/Johnny Baird Ford Escort 14 25 8:03.2 0:00 47:36.4 5:23.3 0:01.9
49 (+30) 39 Cal McCarthy/Derek O’Brien Citroen DS3 R5 RC2 11 8:21.1 0:00 48:04.7 5:51.6 0:28.3
50 (+50) 46 Conor Harvey/Gerard Callaghan Darrian T90 GTR 14 26 7:53.9 0:00 49:05.2 6:52.1 1:00.5
51 (+54) 19 Kevin Eves/Chris Melly Toyota Corolla Twin Cam 14 27 7:58.5 0:00 50:10.1 7:57.0 1:04.9
52 (+60) 38 Jason Mitchell/Paddy McCrudden Ford Fiesta R5 Rally 2 RC2 12 7:58.1 0:00 51:36.0 9:22.9 1:25.9
53 (+58) 44 JF Shovelin/Emmet Brosnan Ford Escort Mk2 14 28 8:20.1 0:00 51:51.1 9:38.0 0:15.1
